Texture Measurements of Hydroxyapatite Crystallites at Bone-Implant Interfaces in Sheep Tibia

Abstract

The preferred orientation of hydroxyapatite Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2 (HAp) crystallites at the interface bone-implant in sheep tibia bones has been measured with the neutron 2-axis diffractometer D20 at the Institut Max von Laue-Paul Langevin, extracted 60 days after implantation. The implant has two faces, one coated and one non-coated with plasma-sprayed HAp (80 µm). We probed the samples with a spatial resolution of 0.5 mm started from the interface in order to inspect the reorganisation of the HAp crystallite distribution after implantation.